Forget momentum, forget psychological advantage, and forget proclamations that this year feels different. This story is well on its way to the usual perplexing conclusion.

Just two days after the Nationals appeared to shake their postseason reputation and wrest control of the NLDS with a dramatic comeback win against the Cubs, the same ol’ October Nationals showed up Monday at Wrigley Field for Game 3.

Whatever advantage the Nats may have gained after Saturday’s electric affair was blown by the Chicago wind right out of Wrigley Field with the Cubs’ 2-1 victory. Not even 48 hours after Bryce Harper's game-tying, win-sparking homer seemed to jolt new life into an oddly forlorn franchise in Game 2, the Nationals went flat, and now they find themselves on the brink of elimination yet again.

It really makes one wonder what the Nationals have against success in the postseason.

On a day when Washington’s ace pitcher, Max Scherzer, held the Cubs hitless for six innings, the offense took the day off — just as it did Friday in Game 1 when Stephen Strasburg tossed 5 2/3 no-hit innings in an eventual 3-1 loss. Yes, with their best pitchers doing their best work, the Nationals have gone a combined 5 for 61 and a combined 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

In Game 3 alone, the normally dangerous foursome of Harper, Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman combined to go 1 for 16. Throw in that the Cubs, apparently in a giving mood, committed four errors, and it was just another Nats-in-October head-scratcher.

Another loss to the Cubs will add one more entry to the list of Nationals teams that went into the playoffs with high expectations but fell flat and were forced into the winter early to ponder what went wrong. It’s become a familiar refrain for the Washington nine, as on-paper promise fails to translate to on-field success when October glory is on the line.

Whether their postseason ends with a heartbreaking collapse (2012), a fizzle (2014) or just with one that got away (2016), the Nationals have become well-acquainted with October disappointment. Whatever excitement or initial success the Nationals find in the postseason, it seems, the other shoe always drops. The reasons and methods change, but it always drops.